Every angler has a story.
Some are funny, some are tragic. Some are about successes; others deal with frustration.
In the two years since The Pilot's Off the Hook feature started, many tales have been told.
Today marks the last "formal" Off the Hook feature of 2008, but The Pilot will continue to run these type of stories as warranted.
And with such a thriving winter fishery along the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina, there no doubt will be interesting tales.
A look back at some of the favorites of 2008:
- Let's start with the one that got away - and got caught again.
That experience goes to Burt Whitt of Norfolk. Whitt had caught a 58-pound, 6-ounce dolphin that, at the time, gave him the lead in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament. But while unloading the fish at the dock, mate Chris Martin accidently let the fish slip back into the drink.
Wes Feller saved the day in Rudee Inlet, putting on his scuba gear and finding the fish lodged behind dock pilings.
- Fishing is a sport where equal amounts of bragging and secrecy are a way of life.
Nobody honors the rule of secrecy better than speckled trout anglers.
But when Trafton Jordan of Portsmouth caught his first double-digit-sized trout, he just had talk.
Even then, he adhered to the code.
He admitted that the fish was caught in the Elizabeth River, even said it was not in the Hot Ditch. But come on, Jordan, that leaves a lot of water.
His best quip came when asked what he used to catch the giant.
"I was using a lure," he said with a laugh.
- It has to be difficult spending all your time on the water watching others catch fish.
But when it's your job, hey... it's your job.
It's Skip Feller's job - one he loves.
Even so, he had been yearning to catch a fish himself.
So this Virginia Beach headboat captain begged a friend to take him out and put him on some fish.
Julie Ball, one of Virginia's representatives to the International Game Fish Association, came to the rescue.
Even if he didn't catch much, Feller figured that just being out, having someone else do the guiding, was good enough.
But Feller ended up catching a 19-pound, 15-ounce bluefish - a whopper by anybody's standards and plenty good enough to earn him a citation from Virginia's state-sponsored awards program.
"I was like a kid in a candy store," Feller said. "That was the first time in a long time that I had just been a passenger on a boat, out fishing, with no worries."
- Some stories displayed the ingenuity of most anglers.
Especially a couple of hungry ones.
That was the case with Virginia Beach puppy drum fanatics Al Bunnell and Dale Kelso.
They usually have a spur-of-the-moment attitude about their afternoon trips to Lynnhaven Inlet - which often left them hungry and foodless.
So the two put their collective crazy gray matter together and came up with the idea of calling a pizza delivery restaurant and having a pie dropped off at a waterfront residence where nobody appeared to be home.
The delivery guy was told to come around back: "We're out on the dock."
He showed up, the two paid - including a big tip - and everybody went on their merry way.
"There was nothing left of that pizza, and it didn't take long," Bunnell said. "We were starving, and we're a couple of big guys."
But next time, fellas, have it sent to the boat ramp.
- Finally, who doesn't love a story about a youngster catching a trophy fish.
Especially when the angler is a former Miss Pre-Teen Virginia.
Great Bridge Middle School seventh-grader Emily Hasty won that title in 2006.
Now she's a top-notch flounder angler, having caught an 11-1/2-pounder at the Cape Henry Wreck. Most flounder-pounders fish a lifetime just to get a 7-pound award-winner.
Double-digit flatfish just don't happen every day.
"Oh, my gosh, I was freaking out," she said. "I was holding the rod on my left, then on my right, then in the middle.
"When I saw the reflection in the water, I thought it was a shark of something.
"It was so big."
Lee Tolliver, (757) 222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
